Deviance: Anthropological Perspectives

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In this volume composed of a number of cross-cultural case studies in deviance, the authors show how an anthropological comparative study can shed new light on the subject. Anthropologists have tended to avoid studying deviance as a phenomena in and of itself, concentrating instead on particular sorts of deviance such as sorcery, alcoholism, and suicide. Anthropology's total immersion in the culture being studied is well suited to a fuller understanding of deviance. An anthropology of deviance is likely to create new models that challenge many of the sociological assumptions currently used to interpret and understand deviance. The results of fieldwork in the Arctic, the West Indies, India, Europe, Africa, and the Far East are presented in individual ethnographic essays, and the data is formulated into three new theoretical models that address the differences between "smart" and "proper" behaviour, the distinction between "soft" and "hard" deviance, and the social and political uses of "staged deviance". These innovative models provide a context in which the data collected cross-culturally make sense in general and make deviance more understandable. Anthropology lends a greater objectivity to the study of deviance through a great concern with the validity of data, a focus on small-scale systems and a meticulous scrutiny and acknowledgment of the models that will be used to interpret the data. This book seeks to improve not only understanding of deviant behaviour, but of sociocultural order as well.

Author Bio

MORRIS FREILICH is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. He brings to this study thirty years of research and teaching experience in anthropology and deviance related topics. He edited The Relevance of Culture (Bergin & Garvey, 1989). DOUGLAS RAYBECK is Professor of Anthropology at Hamilton College. He has contributed to a wide range of journals including Ethos, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and The Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. JOEL SAVISHINSKY is Professor of Anthropology at Ithaca College. He has conducted numerous case studies of human adaptation to extreme environments throughout the world, and is the author of The Trail of the Hare and numerous articles in anthropology, ecology, and psychology journals.